First, after watching Russell Westbrook over the past few weeks, and the time he came to the Garden against the Knicks and calmly just missed a triple-double by a single rebound (31 pts, 10 assists, nine rebounds), I think that he’s established himself in Derrick Rose‘s class in terms of guards on the cusp of superstardom.

Rose, the first overall pick from the 2008 class, really burst onto the scene last playoffs against the Celtics and worked hard on his jump shot this offseason. That work translated more in his mid-range game, not from behind the arc, where he managed just 26 percent (up from 22 percent last year), but Rose is clearly morphing into a very gifted scoring guard, a la Dwyane Wade.

Westbrook, on the other hand, has more tools in my opinion. He’s as gifted defensively as any guard in the league. He can distribute the basketball and score when needed. Just look at his NBA.com efficiency numbers, which can be calculated here.

During the first four games of the playoffs he’s managing a ridiculous +26.25 efficiency total compared to Rose’s +22.67. Now, I still think that Rose has more on his resume and has the slight edge, but Westbrook is gaining fast and a first-round upset over the Lake Show would inch him even closer.

Can the Thunder pull off an upset over a Lakers team that now needs to rely on an injured Kobe more than ever before? I still think the Lakers manage to pull through, but a long first-round series could hamper a title defense. And not just because it’s drawn out and players garner more minutes; to me, it’s more because a longer series exposes a team’s weakness. Ron Artest, in my opinion is the best two-way forward since Scottie Pippen, and he is having a hard time getting the right shots in the Lakers’ offense. He’s deferring right now and focusing on defense, not playing his typically aggressive offensive game. I don’t know if that’s by design from Phil Jackson, but if it is it’s terrible game-planning. The Lakers now more than ever need Artest to step up.

Sources have told me that Knicks general manager Donnie Walsh desperately tried to move up to get Westbrook two years ago and dangled David Lee in a deal to Memphis. Westbrook never fell to No. 5. So Walsh stayed put and selected Danilo Gallinari, who just completed a very impressive second season. I just have to wonder where the Knicks would be with Westbrook, a kid out of UCLA whom I rated over O.J. Mayo and Eric Gordon and behind Rose at the guard position. I think he would have been special enough to have led them to the playoffs this year.

But enough hypotheticals. More.

Remember Pat Cummings?

Cummings wasn’t the smoothest of Knicks in his four years in New York, but he played hard and was, by all intents and purposes, a good NBA player. Still, Cummings represented the early Patrick Ewing years, which weren’t the most successful the franchise has ever seen. Those teams were pretty bad. Cummings was guilty by association.

Fans of Nate Robinson will be sure to defend the guard’s tenure under Mike D’Antoni by saying the Knicks coach has problems communicating. They can point to the Stephon Marbury situation last season and Larry Hughes this year as evidence that he’s a coach who gives players a raw deal. Robinson was in the coach’s doghouse during a stretch that saw the Knicks play their best basketball in years in December, but fans still clamored for Nate to get in the game.

They paid for tickets to see the little guy light up the court and have the opportunity to do so Tuesday as the Celtics are in town.

Robinson is a polarizing player. His stature should mean that he has no business on an NBA floor, let alone winning dunk contests and going off on huge offensive nights.

By all admission on the surface, Robinson was a good soldier here. He kept his mouth shut during the benching and came back to explode on the Hawks down in Atlanta. The guy just wants to play … a lot. Unfortunately, he’s not getting the opportunity to showcase his talents in Boston. His minutes are spotty and he’s not a favorite of Doc Rivers, it appears, in big games. With the Celtics in a critical game against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday, Nate didn’t play. In fact, Rivers set his playoff rotation and Nate is not in it.

What does that tell you? more.

Unfortunately, McGrady didn’t tell the Rockets until after his decision was made.

“My knee hasn’t been right all year, and we can’t seem to get the pain to go away,” McGrady wrote on his Web site Feb. 18th, one day before the trade deadline.

“We’ve tried just playing through it, taking back-to-backs off, and extended periods of rest, but none of it has really been effective in limiting the discomfort and allowing me to just go out there and play.”

The Rockets’ reaction?

“I found out like everybody else did,” Rockets coach Rick Adelman told the Houston Chronicle. “I think there should be a protocol there. There should be a procedure where we have a chance to sit down and talk about a situation and not (have it) announced in the press. I don’t know why that happened, why he did that. It certainly is not the way it should be handled.”

And the friction has led up until this year.

“The Rockets are still mad. They had sent the trade to the league,” another source told me. “They were ready to ship him out and McGrady killed it.” Read more…

One of the sources told me the Rockets were in heated discussions with the Kings as well…McGrady wasn’t having any part of a deal.

I also read the report about the Rockets demands of Jordan Hill or Toney Douglas.  I would have to believe that if a rookie were involved, Jared Jeffries would go as well. Maybe a third team will have to be involved.

Other than Danilo Gallinari, the Knicks don’t have consistent perimeter shooters. Career numbers always tell the truth, and here are the career 3-point percentages of the Knicks perimeter players currently in the rotation:

Larry Hughes – 31 percent
Al Harrington – 36
Wilson Chandler – 32
Chris Duhon – 36

Even if left wide open in good rhythm, the odds are that it’s a low percentage shot for whichever Knick is taking it. Now, that’s not to say that this system can’t produce great things. It can. Because if players continue to get good looks, those percentages should rise. But other than Larry Hughes, none of these players is shooting at a higher clip.

To me, it’s the reason why Grant Hill was attractive over the summer. Despite a putrid career 3-point shooting percentage, Hill had a breakout year last season from behind the arc while playing with Steve Nash. In addition, Hill is a near 50-percent career shooter from the field. Sure, Knicks brass wanted fans to believe that the interest in Hill had more to do with “locker-room” qualities, but Hill has been revitalized with space. He could have been a real help in New York if he didn’t have to ultimately choose between Duhon and Nash.

But over the past few weeks, the players seemed to be in sync and the ball was moving around well. Why? Because you have to get the defense to “react.”

So, what does this mean? Simple. If the ball is going to the basket, you have to make a defender leave his man to stop you. Then the decision is to pass to an open man who has to prove he can knock down that now-open shot or create a defensive rotation that gets another player open.

If Duhon can’t get past his man then who else can? Harrington is decent, but, at 6-foot-9, it’s not his game. Gallinari struggles, and if Chandler does drive, then he usually settles for a pull up contested shot. And Hughes has been better, but it’s not his specialty either.

That’s the second problem. Yes, occasionally these players can cause the defense to react, but far too often they don’t and it hampers the systems offensive flow.

The solution? Well, it should be fixed with roster and financial flexibility that comes this summer. In the meantime, Donnie Walsh should be seriously working the phones to acquire a player who is a handful off the dribble but has the smarts not to just commit to the drive. It’s why he has to have interest in Charlotte’s D.J. Augustin or more of a fit is Washington’s Randy Foye. more.

I’ve been thinking about this all day on Twitter. Foye is the perfect fit. He’s strong and can get past his man, but can also be a spot shooter if he gives the ball up. Plus he is an above average defender.  This is not to say that Augustin can’t be acquired too, but I have to get on the phone and see if the Wizards have any interest in Larry Hughes.

Foye isn’t getting much run and no he’s not all that sexy of a name, but I appreciate strong, catch and shoot type players who can get past his defender.

Last year with the Wolves, Foye had 30 games of 5 assists or more…

The fact that Walsh didn’t pull the trigger to try to sign the restricted free-agent point guard seemingly had more to do with economics more so than how the organization felt about the 23-year-old floor general’s on-court ability. A source close to the situation told me that Mike D’Antoni seemed “gung ho” about the idea during the summer, but in the end Walsh was determined not to cut into the 2010 budget, especially after a July memo from the NBA hit the wires noting that the salary cap could come down even further next summer.

There are sentiments from fans who believe it is imperative that the team makes the playoffs if it has any chance to lure a big-time free agent over the summer. I agree and also feel that it’s important to keep the Utah Jazz, owners of the Knicks’ 2010 first-round draft pick, out of the lottery and a playoff berth would obviously assure that. Plus, it would give the young players on the roster valuable experience and showcase for the first time in a while just how loud the Garden can be during important games in the spring. More.